John Chrysostom on Justification
Includes being made righteous, not only declared
So also is the declaring of His righteousness not only that He is Himself righteous, but that He doth also make them that are filled with the putrefying sores of sin suddenly righteous... Doubt not then: for it is not of works, but of faith.
THE POSITION
To declare God's righteousness is to make the unrighteous righteous. He runs the parallel out: as declaring His riches means making others rich and declaring His life means making the dead live, so declaring His righteousness means making men rotten with sin suddenly righteous — and in the same breath, "it is not of works, but of faith." The First Instruction locates the same event at the font, glossing 1 Corinthians 6:11 to say the baptized are "not only clean, but both holy and just."
24 and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand. 26 He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
1 OTHER HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Archbishop of Constantinople and the most prolific preacher of the patristic era — the largest surviving body of Greek expository preaching is his. This entry rests on the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers translations of his homilies on Romans, 1 Corinthians, John, Hebrews and 2 Thessalonians, together with the Instructions to Catechumens.
Cite this page
"John Chrysostom on Justification", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/chrysostom/justification (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/chrysostom/justification).